Pages: 109-111

No. 4 OF THE NEWSPAPER "VPERYOD" OF JANUARY 31 (18), 1905
20705

REVOLUTIONARY DAYS.
THE FIRST STEPS OF THE WORKING CLASS*.

The spark that ignited the fire was one of the most ordinary clashes between labor and capital—a strike at a single factory. It is interesting, however, that this strike of 12,000 Putilov workers, which flared up on Monday, January 3, was above all a strike in the name of proletarian solidarity. The occasion was provided by the dismissal of four workers. "When the demand for their reinstatement was not satisfied," writes a comrade to us from Petersburg on January 7, "the factory came to a complete halt, very unanimously. The strike bears a thoroughly disciplined character; the workers sent several men to guard the machinery and other property against any possible damage from the less conscious. Subsequently, they dispatched a delegation to other factories with notice of their demands and proposals to join the movement." Thousands and tens of thousands of workers began to join the movement. The legal, Zubatov, workers' society, established with government assistance for the purpose of corrupting the proletariat through systematic monarchist propaganda, rendered no small service to the organization of the movement at its lowest stages and to its expansion in breadth. What occurred was precisely what social-democrats had long since pointed out to the Zubatovites—that the revolutionary instinct of the working class and its spirit of solidarity would triumph over all petty police tricks. The most backward workers would be drawn into the movement by the Zubatovites, and then the tsar's government itself would see to pushing the workers further, capitalist exploitation itself would move them from the peaceful and thoroughly hypocritical Zubatovism to revolutionary social-democracy. The practice of proletarian life and proletarian struggle will overcome all the "theories" and all the efforts of the Zubatov gentlemen*.

So it came to pass. One comrade, a worker, member of the Petersburg Committee of the Russian Social-Democratic Labor Party, describes his impressions in the following manner in a letter to us of January 9**:

"I write under the fresh impression of a meeting that has just taken place beyond the Neva Gate of workers from the Semyannikov factory. But first of all, a few words about the mood that prevails among Petersburg workers. As is known, recently there have begun to arise, or rather, to revive 'Zubatov' organizations under the leadership of Father Gapon. The organizations have multiplied and strengthened in a very short time. There now already exist 11 sections of the so-called 'Assembly of Russian Factory Workers.' As was to be expected, the results of these assemblies had to be such as they were and in the south.

Now one can say with confidence that a broad strike movement is beginning in Petersburg. Almost every day one hears of a new strike, now at one factory, now at another. The Putilov factory has been on strike for two days now***. Two weeks ago the Shau paper-spinning mill struck on the Vyborg side. The strike lasted four days; the workers achieved nothing. In a day or two this strike will resume. Everywhere the mood is elevated, but one cannot say it is in favor of social-democracy. The greater part of the workers stands for purely economic struggle and against political struggle. But one must expect and hope that this mood will change, and the workers will understand that without political struggle they will achieve no improvements in economic [interests]. Today the Nevsky Shipbuilding [and Mechanical Factory] Society (Semyannikov) struck. The local section of the 'Assembly of Russian Factory-Plant Workers' is trying to come forward as leader of the beginning strike, but this of course will not succeed for it. Social-democracy will be the leader, despite the fact that it is terribly weak here.

Two or three leaflets have been issued by the Petersburg Committee, two—to the Shau spinning mill and one—to the Putilov workers. Today there was a meeting of workers from the Nevsky Shipbuilding factory. About 500 workers gathered. Members of the local section of the 'Assembly' came forward for the first time. They rejected political demands and chiefly put forward economic demands. Voices of disapproval came from the crowd. But then there appeared a contributor to the 'Russian Gazette,' Stroev, who enjoys great respect among Petersburg workers. Stroev proposed a resolution, as he declared, worked out by him and representatives of social-democracy. This resolution, while emphasizing the opposition of the class interests of the proletariat and bourgeoisie, does so insufficiently. After Stroev, worker comrades who are social-democrats spoke, defending this resolution in principle, but emphasizing its limitations and insufficiency. Then a commotion began; some were dissatisfied with the speeches of the social-democrats and began to disrupt the meeting. The meeting voted by majority against the chairman, who was among those disrupting it, and elected a new chairman, a socialist. But the members of this 'society' (Zubatov) did not fall silent and continued to disturb the meeting. Although the vast majority of the meeting (90%) was on the side of the socialists, the meeting in the end dispersed with nothing accomplished and postponed [this] decision until tomorrow. In any case, one can say that the social-democrats succeeded in turning the mood of the workers in their favor. Tomorrow a large meeting is scheduled—possibly two or three thousand people. One must expect in the coming days [a grandiose demonstration, something like] a grandiose demonstration, something similar to the July one in the south in 1903. The factory of the Franco-Russian Society is on strike—about four or five thousand. It is reported that a strike has also begun at the paper-spinning factory of Baron Stiglitz—about five thousand. A strike is expected at the Obukhov factory—five or six thousand."

Comparing these reports from a social-democrat, a local committee member (who, of course, could know precisely only of events in a small part of Petersburg) with reports from foreign, especially English newspapers, we must conclude* that the latter distinguish themselves by very [considerable] great accuracy.

The strike grew from day to day with vertiginous speed. The workers held a mass of meetings and worked out their "charter," their economic and political demands. Both the one and the other, despite the leadership of the Zubatovites, amounted in general to the demands of the social-democratic party's program, up to and including the slogan: the convening of a Constituent Assembly on the basis of universal, direct, equal, and secret suffrage. The spontaneous growth of a strike of unprecedented dimensions far, far outpaced the organized participation of the social-democrats in the movement. But let us give the floor to them themselves.